EARSPLITTER FOR RNC DEFENSE

“Forget the mega­phones. Police will have a much more high-​​tech and louder option to make them­selves heard over the din of Manhattan traf­fic and noisy pro­test­ers out­side the Republican National Convention,” the AP reports. “It’s called the Long Range Acoustic Device, devel­oped for the mil­i­tary and capa­ble of blast­ing warn­ings, orders or any­thing else at an ear-​​splitting 150 deci­bels.“

The depart­ment recently bought two of the 45-​​pound acoustic sound machines for $35,000 apiece, and plans to mount them on Humvees posted out­side Madison Square Garden. It would mark the first time the instru­ment which can beam sounds for 300 yards or more has been used by a civil­ian force.
“We believe we’d be able to use them in a num­ber of sce­nar­ios,” said Paul Browne, the police department’s chief spokesman.
Two pos­si­ble uses cited by Browne: direct­ing crowds to safety fol­low­ing a ter­ror­ist attack or other calamity, and remind­ing pro­test­ers where they’re allowed to march and rally.
The mil­i­tary, which has used the machines in Iraq, bills them as a “non-​​lethal weapon” designed to dis­perse hos­tile crowds or ward off poten­tial for­eign com­bat­ants by deliv­er­ing pre­re­corded warn­ings in sev­eral lan­guages and, if needed, an ear­split­ting screech­ing noise. But police insist the lat­ter fea­ture won’t be used at the con­ven­tion.
“It’s only to com­mu­ni­cate in large crowds,” Inspector Thomas Graham of the department’s crowd con­trol unit said Thursday.
Graham said police had tried out the device in Times Square, and found it deliv­ered clear, even sound over four blocks. Decibel read­ers will be used to keep the vol­ume at a safe level, he added.

August 20th, 2004 | Homeland Security | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.